Legend Of The Blue Hole (2004)

Mike Matei / May 17th, 2004

This was my senior film in college, (2004) originally intended as a pilot episode for a series based on actual urban legends in southern New Jersey. I was inspired by Weird NJ magazines, the Twilight Zone and anthology films like Creepshow. I still have plans to shoot the other “Jersey Odyssey’s”, but I have no idea when. Too many projects, too little time.

Comments

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I’d call this your first really well made movie. The other bits were entertaining, and a lot of them were experimental, but this is an actual piece of art.

What i like the most is your development of the protagonist. Finally you have made a character with heart. In all your films prior to this i was waiting for you to take that leap and develop a character not motivated by greed, or money or anything base. In LotBH you have constructed a kid with integrity who seems genuinely interested in knowledge. He’s likeable. Also he is a bit of an outcast and socially awkward, and so we have sympathy for him. In essence: he has heart.

Also incorporated into this film is your classic brand of suspense. This is something that I think you are naturally good at because it is a quality that can be seen even in your earliest films. The problem with the earlier works is that you didn’t have characters with heart, so the payoff from the suspense was lost (because we didn’t really care about the people). In LotBH we do care and so the suspense gets a bigger payoff in the end.

That was probably the best thing I’ve seen you do outside of the AVGN, James. That would be something really cool to do as a TV series on Chiller or HBO. I hope you make more of them. Definitely something I will watch more of when they come about.

I love the AVGN series, but truthfully, if you were to quit that and concentrate on a series similar to this pilot episode, I would be very content. This is my favorite piece that you’ve made. Great job.

I really love this film. I really wish that you would make another. I mean that is rather selfvish considering how much you have to do. But i would be totally cool with you postponing the nerd and making another one.

This kind of reminded me of Creepy Canada, a show that focuses on paranormal things throughout North America. Again, terrific work, James! By the way, the main character has some serious balls. Nice ending too x)

There are two things that bothered me, first: Why did he rip out the pages to start with? My answer: If he hadn’t, would he ever take a closer look on the blue hole at all? It certainly sparked his interest.
the other thing is: why did he turn samantha down, about going to the hole? That kinda felt weird.
But that’s just me being nitpicky. As a whole, this was totally awesome, the music, the editing, the acting … make an episode two, sell them on DVD and I’ll buy one and have it shipped to Germany immediately.

That was freaking awesome dude! You gotta put more then Nerd on DVD, your films are incredible but this one is beyond perfection, it’s something that most people aren’t ready to make out of a film, the biggest surprise ending of the century. Or is it last century?

James, i think you should know what everyone else has been telling you, again, this film is spectacular. The mood is chilling the whole way through, the score ties perfectly into the setting, the tension is killer, man you’ve got great talent for movie making, really, I love the AVGN but come on, you’re so good at this stuff, dont waste it!

Like they’re all saying, this film is amazing, and i really think you should spend some time on the making of new movies like that, even if you need to hold back AVGN stuff…
And its kinda hard for me to say that since im a big AVGN fan 🙂

wow i think this is the best thing i have seen in a long time, i can rarely say that i did not see an ending coming and this is one of those times. Great Job James i almost want you to completely stop AVGN and keep working on stuff like this, bt you wouldnt be able to afford stuff like this so i dont.

One of the best “amateur” (if I can call you that) made movies i’ve ever seen in my life. I was kinda disappointed when it ended, I wished for a longer movie, because it really kept me focused on the story. I was in disappointed to the end, because I guessed how the movie would end, which was maybe a small cliché, but that didn’t really matter so much. Gotta say, I loved this film and I would be grateful to see more of films from you that are like this.

I can’t add any praise to this that hasn’t already been said, but I will say it was nice to see a realistic portrait of my methods of “hitting on” members of the opposite sex. And I’m not referring to the way Samantha was encouraging him, either.

Well, I watched the film before I read the description below it. When I was watching it I thought it was cable TV “urban legends” story. And, hey, right at the end Mr. James name pops up! Then I read the description. No wonder your stuff is so good, I though I was watching an actual TV show. That is some fine, quality work. I was hoping to see an old Sam at the end, but that’s just a nit. A+

Wow…that was awesome! I’ll sound like a broken record with everyone else already saying this but maybe you should spend some more time on this stuff….i love AVGN but this is just too good of talent to waste.

Man this is so much like a modern day Outer Limits or Twilight Zone (and I do not mean those late 90s series remakes). I was really impressed with this. I originally became a fan of the AVGN back in 2006 but I have recently started watching some of you other material. One thing is for sure, you definitely have skills man. Keep it up.

The shitty acting of that Dan Kelly(the guy in white shirt) is making me sick.You can program a robot to act better.And i know that they are just your classmates, but still.Everyone else was fine though.Love the time travelling thing in generalCameraman work good as well.So, if i was a professional film critic, i would say:
The “robot like” acting of Dan Kelly was pretty lousy, but it could not obfuscate the rest of the movie.Good camera angles, interesting, but a bit of predictable story, the music, all worked out pretty well at the end.So, if you already saw Spider-man 2, Aliens versus Predator, and Harry Potter, i say, go check that movie out.

This is probably the best film of yours I have seen thus far. Honestly I was introduced to you through AVGN a long time ago and I don’t really like much of your films except the reviews. This one however surprised me, it felt like I was watching a show on television made by producers with a bigger budget than you. I had to keep reminding myself that this is a movie made by the AVGN while he was in college and is not on T.V.

I don’t know what you did different in this one but in my opinion, this is truly a work of art.

I don’t know what everyones talking about, the shitty acting of dan kelly, I thought his acting suits the character, innocent, but curious. I’ve got to say the acting in this short film is a lot better then some movies today, ever seen predators?

Anyways I really really really liked this, it’s a shame that the series most likely wont continue.

Very nice James. You should definitely make some more. When Dan Kelly walked through the river to get to the other side, I found myself shrinking into the back of my chair, and the way the events will just keep happening all over again for the rest of time is just genius. It just baffles the mind that The Blue Hole is a time warp, and that he gave himself the map so he could go back in time to give himself the map. Genius. Just, plain genius.

To answer James Seth Lynch
I don’t think its bad acting its just the role hes not supposed to be noticable, he is an outcast.
Also if he tried to hire and actor he’d have to pay quite a pretty penny and its easier to work with people you know and trust.

On a different note i am a fan of AVGN and your serious works James I really enjoy this and like Ed Woods says in the film review of his works “No one will ever notice that its not about the tiny details its about the big picture” in other words kudos to you and your projects.

That was amazing. I didn’t even thought you could make something as good. Main actor is really good and all the camera work is just ‘wow’. This film is at the level of any The Twilight Zone episode or maybe even higher.
But if you want, I can name some problems of the film: first of all sinkheadhxc is right. How did they take the fact that they went 30 years to the past so simply. But on the other hand, maybe they had nothing to loose in the future, so it was ok for them. Also, I didn’t like the voice of the narrator at the beginning. The imitation of Twilight Zone narrator would be perfect. Now it sounds like a zombie. But that is just nitpicking, isn’t it? I am not into that. So all in all this short film is really good.

Great job on this. Thought it was very well done for a college thesis piece. Even though it was a short you were actually able to successfully create character development. Was really impressed with the score too. I especially like the antique book store. You created that perfect spooky environment that really reminded me of classic horror movies/novels. Wish you had time to make more.

Very well done and enjoyable to me.
Like sinkheadhxc said, in the end they’re comfortable with being in the ’71, but I liked it very much. I thinkit is one of the most realistic time travels I’ve seen, because characters look real. I mean in real life a person is scared by what doesn’t know, but the human being is made to get used to things, so I think travelling back in time or you get totally crazy, or you would do like this.

kinda reminds me of the old tv show ” are you afraid of the dark ” or at least the episodes involving that creepy nutbag shop keep ” Sardo “. He would get upset when the kids addressed him as ” Mr. Sardo, Shouting out ” It’s SarDO!, no mister, accent on the doh! He would always sell them some kind of cursed object for a ridiculous price and when they later returned for help he would reluctantly lend a hand.

are you a member of the midnight society James? lol.

great work, it was a good watch, hope to see more from you, and I will be watching all the monsters classic reviews for the entire month.

I need to be honest with you James, this may be your best fuckin’ video of all time. I watch all your movie reviews, AVGN, etc. to get a break from a long day by laughing at your rants and thinking back on all the great movies I’ve seen, but this was something entirely different. The plot was amazing, the music flowed perfectly with the mood of the film and I loved the ending, which is a huge deal for me. All of your reviews whether they be video games or classic movies or board games or just things that seem like bullshit can be time consuming, but I think it would be incredible if even just once a year you could do one of these short movies. Great job, keep up the good work.

Hey, James. Long time watcher, first time poster. I created an account just so I could voice my praise for this video. I’m certainly no critic, but I swear, if this were a T.V. show, I would be excited for this every week. This is a true work of art. It genuinely had me invested in the characters, which is usually hard in a 20 minute serial.

However, I also have a request about this video. Would it be possible to get the music bit where he’s searching for the Blue Hole (starts with the piano score and then moves into a drum/guitar beat) on an MP3 file? I know this was made six years ago and the original music file – if it even still exists – would be hard to dig up, but the music there is both so fitting to the mood and awesome just in and of itself I’d love to have it (as I’m sure many others would). Plus, it can’t hurt to ask, right?

Anyway, thank you for this great piece of entertainment, adn have a nice day.

P.S. No one was there when I did it, but when the credits rolled, I gave this a standing ovation.

Wow, this was fantastic, and very reminiscent of the old 80’s-90’s horror t.v. shows like, nightmare on elm street the series, or friday the 13th the series, and of course tales from the darkside. Just to name a few that this reminded me of. Anyway fantastic work, can’t wait for the next AVGN instalment.

something that has always intriguid me is movies that talk about time. Back to the future. Twelve monkeys and so on. Every time I get to see one movie that talks about this subject, I start to get headaches. How is it possible that I can’t avoid thinking about how it all started? Hahaha, but anyways GREAT FILM!!!

I think it’s James’s best effort yet and as a huge fan also of his influences, I loved the style of it. And it was directed quite well.
However – and for those of you who haven’t seen it, look away now – I think when you deal with Time Travel, it’s a tricky subject.
In this short film’s case, in order for him to jump into the pool he would need the book from himself to get the blue hole’s location and in order to get the book from himself, he’d need the information to jump into the pool to build the shop.
Most TT films have paradoxes, it doesn’t make them any less enjoyable – the Terminator, for example, is a solid film and yet it’s story is a paradox.
Still, I quite liked this effort.

I have to say that in terms of all your work that I’ve seen on here, this one ranks as one of my favorites. The acting, writing, sound, and cinematography all worked really well together to create a realistic but supernatural atmosphere. Specifically, the time travel dialogue when Jason wakes up in 1971 felt very natural and not as ridiculous as it usually comes off in movies. Really interesting concept too.

Nothing more to expect from a Tales of the Crypt follower 🙂
I think the story line itself look terrific. The whole game played with who’s watching really does the trick for this kind of genre.
The only thing I would like to make a remark would be on the amount of cuts between shots. I’m sure it as a very good reasoning for it but since you’re having trouble with the lack of time, you could try saving some of it by not making cuts every 2 or 4 seconds. I don’t think that makes the film any better than it is already, because the rest its very well done.
Ill be waiting for more of this…

I must say that was pretty good. Kind of reminds me of the Blair witch project but this was a lot better. Predictable but the time twist was really great. Always loved tales like this. Reminds me of Unsloved Mysteries. Love the avgn vids but I think more like this would be great too.

wow that was actually really cool, completely engrossed me. The acting wasn’t too great but hey it was sufficient. One thing that bothered me though is that the ending was too strong, would have been better if it had been more subtle about it. It was still pretty great though you really nailed that Twilight Zone feel, you should definitely do more of this series sometime. But like I said it would have been with a more subtle ending that strongly hinted at that conclusion instead of hitting you over the head with it.

James this was awesome! Not only was it well written and directed, but you managed to get together some quality acting and settings. This was easily to the standard of something I would expect to see on t.v.

All this film says to me is that UPenn students have too much time on their hands if they’re off galavanting in the woods! You can’t fool me. I lived in 2 of the 3 highrises. I recognize my old neighborhood!

This was amazing, I really liked the supernatural feeling it got, and it’s more my own imagination (and fear of open deep water) rather than everything in the movie. I really hope you get the time and money to produce some more episodes.

wow…just wow I know I am a little late but I just happen to see this video and decided to watch it the second I saw the title I thought what? THAT blue hole? like in New Jersey?? Seeing as I am from New Jersey this was a big deal for me especially since I am familiar with the legend along with many other of the urban myths. This was truly great to see. The only thing I can call disappointing is that he never did find the Jersey Devil but even with that said the twist at the end was a much better ending. I know I would personally love to see many more of these I even live very close to one of the famous urban myths that was in Weird New Jersey, Clinton Road and I think a lot could be done with that along with many of the other myths like The Gates of Hell in Clifton. It would be especially cool if the store owner from this one appeared in later ones and got other people started on their own adventures. Well I have rambled long enough great movie! Oh and just the right balance of suspense and scare by the way

nice work! nice acting (but the girl doesn’t look as natural as teh main guy) and the piano music is freakin awesome
also a few cuts in the forest look realy REALY impressive (the yellow grass ones), but the last lines are realy stupid. (Oh yeah, we’ve just somehow traveled in time. I’m sorry – Oh no, it’s OK! Not a big deal at all….WHAT???? YEAH, REALY WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!???? )

Similarly to the others who have commented on the film, I would have loved to have seen a long film made by you. You have great dreams and epic fantasy, the movie will be amazing, fun and scary, I hope. Horror is what I hope most of you.